A Mt. Rainier elopement is an amazing way to tie the knot. With the wildflowers blooming, perfect weather for hiking and epic views of the mountains, choosing where to elope in Mt. Rainier couldn’t be easier with these simple hikes!
Where to Stay around Mt. Rainier National Park
We started out by renting this A frame cabin in Ashford called “The Little Blue Cabin.” You can find it on Airbnb here. It was the perfect size for just my boyfriend and I to spend his birthday week on the mountain. Aka the first week of August when all of the wildflowers are BOOMING. Therefore, for your Mt. Rainier elopement, I highly recommend this A-frame cabin or a similar one nearby. There are so many on Airbnb!
Another reason we came here: I have a couple that’s interested in eloping at Mt. Rainier National Park during the wildflower season and has asked me to send me my recommendations! So here we are, location scouting for them and celebrating for James! Get ready for an epic blog post about trailhead info, informative pictures and elopement spot ideas around the park!
Need videography gear? Check out this other blog post!
When is the best time to Elope in Mt. Rainier?
Mt. Rainier from the beginning of July to the end of August will be the most colorful, sunny and picturesque time to have an elopement. Any other time of the year, it might be too snowy and the roads will be closed to get into the park.
What’s the weather like in the summer?
Weather ranging from 65-85 degrees fahrenheit makes harder hikes bearable and the only thing to really worry about is the chance of clouds blocking the view of the mountain. But at least you’ll be guaranteed wildflowers if that’s what you want for your Mt. Rainier elopement.
Easy Hikes around Mt. Rainier
For starters, you should know that I’m not into crazy incline backpacking type of trails. For people wanting a Mt. Rainier elopement, I always remind them of the weight of my gear that has to hike with me. The camera equipment on top of my normal layers, water and food makes it super difficult (for me at least) to do insane hikes. So my job when I scout is to go to the places ahead of time and scout EASY trails (according to AllTrails that is) that still give us epic views and a variety of options for them to choose a private spot to exchange their vows.
On our first day we did 3 different trails:
This blog post has been updated May of 2022.
Grove of the Patriarchs in Mt. Rainier National Park:
The most popular and BUSIEST trail we did! The parking lot had cars parked behind parked cars and the road for about a quarter mile had cars parked on the side. We did get there at noon on a Tuesday in peak tourist season (first week of August) so that can be expected.
Trail Info
Grove of the Patriarchs is an easy 1.1 mile, out and back trail that’s family friendly, features a suspension bridge over a creek bed and a wood walkway through massive Douglas Firs and Western Red Cedar Trees. If I were to take my Mt. Rainier elopement couple here, it would definitely be in the morning to avoid the crowd and I would probably place them in a spot amongst the giant trees on the wood walkway and get some shots of them going across the bridge! I would consider this a quick pitstop and not a whole day thing.
Silver Forest Trail in Mt. Rainier National Park:
The Silver Forest Trail was at the Sunrise entrance and took us an hour and half to get there from Grove of the Patriarchs. We parked at the lodge and walked to the trailhead just across the street from the main lodge building.
Why is Silver Forest Trail our favorite?
This trail was my absolute favorite for views of the mountains AND to be walking amongst the wildflowers the entire time. The whole trail, you’re walking along a hillside with wildflowers on both sides amongst silver trees, AND for how busy the parking lot was, we only saw maybe 4 families on the trail? It felt pretty private and I bet on a clear day at sunset, this would be an epic spot to say your vows for your Mt. Rainier elopement. We were there from 2:30-4 and although it was cloudy and hazy from wildfires, the sun broke out and gave us epic sun rays so you never know with Rainier!
Lake Tipsoo in Mt. Rainier National Park
Planning on inviting some elderly family who can’t do much distance for your Mt. Rainier elopement? Check out this spot!
The last trail we did on our first day was Lake Tipsoo. I wouldn’t even consider this a hike. It was more of a park and walk around the lake bed and I wouldn’t even call it a lake, hahaha. It was more of a giant pond with some wildflower meadows around it. I could tell that some wildflowers had already gone through it’s bloom and died whereas some were still there. It was more of an abundance of those white fluffy flower grass which could be picturesque too!
And based on other pictures of the Lake, we were supposed to have seen the top of Rainier in the distance, but the haze was so bad we didn’t see it at all! This could be a great spot for sunset, but just know that there are a lot of warnings to not go into the meadows so please stay on the trail!
Day Two in Mt. Rainier National Park:
On our second day we spent the morning taking pictures in our cabin since the sunlight in the morning was beaming through our windows – we had to take a moment to set up the tripod and take cute cuddling pictures on the bed of the two of us! Then later for sunset, we hiked to Comet and Christine Falls and checked out Reflection Lake. See our pictures and my reviews for each trail below!
A-Frame Cabin Indoor Photo Ideas
At around 7am, we got pictures of the sun coming through our bedroom window. We tried using aerosol spray to see the rays coming in a little better but after our first spray, we sounded the smoke alarm and quickly had to run and open up all the doors and windows. Whoops. Hahahaha. So we did it without the fog spray and ended up getting some great cuddling pictures still! Don’t forget to add some awesome indoor cuddle sessions to your Mt. Rainier Elopement!
Comet and Christine Falls in Mt. Rainier National Park
If you want an epic Mt. Rainier Elopement with a waterfall in your itinerary, then look no further!
Comet and Christine Falls Trail Info
We got to Comet and Christine Falls at 3:30 and let me just start off by saying this was NOT EASY. According to All Trails, it’s rated moderate at about 3.2 miles, out and back with a 1300 ft. elevation gain. I think I mistook it for a different waterfall I saw on the app and did this one by accident because the whole trail was just a steady incline of rocks, stairs and tree limbs on the path the entire way up AND not to mention there were sooooo many mosquitos and flies on this trail.
It was not fun to have bugs constantly land on you while you’re sweating and panting like a dog. And there’s a part of the trail where you do have to cross a moving creek that in some parts is pretty dangerous so it’s labeled as a “go at your own risk” sign at the trailhead. So, overall the trail was nothing what I was expecting, but it was one hell of an adventure that’s for sure!!
And don’t let me be a debby downer!! There were a couple amazing positives to this trail. We got multiple sights of waterfalls, a mountain goat sighting and the waterfall at the end was SO REWARDING!! It kind of reminded me of Bali. You get this epic walk up to the waterfall with wildflowers all around you and then you just feel the most epic, refreshing mist of water after a long hard hike. It made it so worth it!!
Therefore, I will only suggest this trail for those who are confident in their hiking abilities, up for some adventure and don’t mind a slow and sweaty videographer to come up with them hahaha.
This hike took us 3 hours to do and we didn’t stay at the waterfall for very long so just a heads up for those wanting to add this to their Mt. Rainier Elopement itinerary.
Lakes around Paradise Visitor Center
After Comet and Christine Falls, we were pretty pooped. We were ready to go home, but I realized that we were only 5 miles from the visitor center and the map showed a couple of lakes that are right off the road, so we drove up further to check out the visitor center on Paradise Rd. and wow. Getting service for the first time in the park was really nice. This would be a great place to meet your couples and have them freshen up in the bathrooms if they need it. I even saw a wedding taking place and bridesmaids were steaming their dresses in the bathroom lol!
Reflection Lake
After the visitor center, we drove another 2 miles to check out Reflection Lake and it wasn’t too bad! No trail necessary, just park your car in the lot and you’re already on the lake’s shore bed. The mountain wasn’t as high up as I thought so this could possibly be a quick pit-stop for a photo or two if we were up for it, but not worth enough to stay for longer than 10 minutes in my opinion!
Lake Louis
We also drove by Lake Louise to check it out, but it was definitely a hike down to get to and seeing it from above on the road, we were too exhausted to trek it. Plus, I could tell from the road that we wouldn’t get a view of the mountain at all at this Lake from it being surrounded by walls of trees so definitely something I wouldn’t consider for your Mt. Rainier elopement.
And that was the end of our trip! It was an awesome 2 days in the park followed by a cute and romantic stay at The Little Blu Cabin. I plan on doing more location scouting trips in the future which will be added to this very same blog when that happens!
Let me know what you want to see next time in the comments below!
Or, if you’re looking for an adventure elopement videographer, check out the rest of my website and head to the contact page to see our availability!
Or watch this video of a Mt. Rainier Elopement I did in September when it poured rain on us the entire day! We didn’t get to go to the park, but the A-Frame cabin they rented was amazing!
Ahhh I’m obsessed with this! I went to Rainier a few weeks ago and my gf and I were thinking “it would be cool to get married here”! I love that you found some pretty but easy trails because the one we went on was so strenuous 😂😅
Omg which one was it!!! The waterfall hike we did was the only one that wasn’t rated “easy” and we accidentally did it thinking it was hahahaha THE WORST